This article discusses the various members of the squad that made up the
\nSpurs 1960-61 squad.<\/p>\n
The first choice team was Bill Brown, Peter Baker, Ron Henry, Danny
\nBlanchflower, Dave Mackay, Cliff Jones, John White, Bobby Smith, Les Allen
\nand Terry Dyson. Occasionally, some of the squad were injured and the
\nfollowing players appeared in their places : John Hollowbread, Ken Barton,
\nTony Marchi, Terry Medwin, John Smith and Frank Saul.<\/p>\n
The First Choice Team<\/strong><\/p>\n Bill Brown was a very unflashy goalkeeper who just got on with the Peter Baker was first spotted playing for Enfield Town in the Athenian Ron Henry was signed by Spurs in 1955 and figured regularly in the Danny Blanchflower is so well known that he should scarcely require an Maurice Norman was spotted playing for Norwich City and signed for Spurs When Tottenham bought Dave Mackay, they bought the best possible Cliff Jones was the fastest winger of his day, very courageous and often John White’s death was a tragedy. Terry Medwin bitterly regrets that he Bobby Smith was first spotted plying his trade for Chelsea in the early Les Allen was born in Dagenham and was one of a legion of players from the Terry Dyson was the smallest player in the squad but made up for it with a The Reserves<\/strong><\/p>\n John Hollowbread was unlucky to be contemporary with Ted Ditchburn and Ken Barton had a trial with Tottenham in January 1954, signed amateur Tony Marchi was a schoolboy with Tottenham and made his debut for the Terry Medwin came to prominence playing for Swansea Town and transferred John Smith was originally signed from West Ham to replace Danny Frank Saul made his debut as a 15 year old in the Spurs Reserve side and Thus these are the 17 players who represented Tottenham during 1960-61.<\/p>\n By Brian Judson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\nbusiness of playing football instead of playing to the gallery like some
\ngoalkeepers do. Born in 1931, Brown played his first football for junior
\nteams in Scotland before joining Dundee. In 1959, Nicholson signed Brown
\nfrom Dundee for what seems a paltry sum of money these days but was then
\nan enormous amount. Brown brought confidence to the defence for the first
\ntime since the heyday of Ted Ditchburn. Brown was rarely absent from the
\nteam until he left for Northampton Town in 1966 but in his last two
\nseasons with Tottenham, he was encouraging the very young Pat Jennings,
\nwho had been signed from Watford. Brown only missed two games during
\n1960-61. After ending his career at Northampton, Brown emigrated to
\nCanada.<\/p>\n
\nLeague and turned professional with Spurs in 1952. He had to wait for the
\ndeparture of Alf Ramsey before he got his chance to play for the first
\nteam. He was a very underrated player and was unlucky to have
\ncontemporaries who were much better than he was as he was one of three
\nplayers (Allen and Dyson were the other two) who never received a full
\ninternational cap. Baker only missed one game during 1960-61, through
\ninjury. At the end of 1964-65, he emigrated to South Africa.<\/p>\n
\nReserves until Mel Hopkins broke his nose whilst playing for Wales in
\n1959. Henry took his chance so well that Hopkins could not regain his
\nplace. He played in all 49 League and Cup matches and was one of the few
\nSpurs players to play as well as he normally did in the Cup Final against
\nLeicester City. Henry retired at the end of the 1965-66 season and helped
\nto coach the Spurs Juniors for two decades afterwards before retiring.<\/p>\n
\nintroduction. He was born in Belfast in 1926 and played his first football
\nfor Glentoran. In 1949, he signed for Barnsley and made the further move
\nto Aston Villa in 1951. He signed for Spurs after a protracted transfer
\nauction between Spurs and Arsenal. Arthur Rowe intended to rebuild his
\nside around Blanchflower but was taken ill and resigned as manager.
\nBlanchflower never saw eye to eye with his successor Jimmy Anderson and
\nfell out with Bill Nicholson in the early days of Nicholson’s stewardship.
\nBut by March 1959, Blanchflower was restored to the team and appointed
\ncaptain. Blanchflower was thereafter only absent through injury until he
\nretired during the 1963-64 season. In the Double season of 1960-61,
\nBlanchflower did not miss a single game, scoring 6 goals in the Football
\nLeague. In all, Blanchflower made 337 League appearances for Tottenham.
\nHe was briefly manager of Northern Ireland and Chelsea later in his life
\nbut suffered from Alzheimers Disease towards the end of his life. He died
\nin December 1993.<\/p>\n
\nin November 1955. His early games were played at right back but eventually
\nhe converted to centre-half where he went on to win international honours.
\nIt was Tottenham who first started to send a tall centre half upfield to
\nhelp at corner kicks. In fact it was Danny Blanchflower’s idea which cost
\nhim the captaincy under manager Anderson. It is a common sight today but
\nwas regarded as a risk in the 1950s. Norman was the first choice for club
\nand country until he broke his leg in a friendly against the Hungarian
\nInternational team at Tottenham in November 1965. He tried to regain
\nfitness but was forced to call it a day in 1967 without ever playing
\nagain.<\/p>\n
\ninsurance. Mackay played in 40 Cup Finals during his career and was never
\nonce on the losing side. He was first spotted playing for Hearts. Spurs
\nwere looking to strengthen their team. Nicholson was widely expected to
\nsign Mel Charles but Nicholson struck in Edinburgh and persuaded Mackay to
\ncome to Tottenham. Whilst Mackay performed great deeds for Tottenham,
\nCharles flopped at Arsenal. It was Mackay who adjusted the balance. Whilst
\nhe enjoyed rampaging forward, he was careful to defend when Blanchflower
\nwent forward so there were never great chunks in the defence as had
\nhappened with Jim Iley. Mackay twice broke his left leg, the second time
\nduring a come-back game in the Reserves at Tottenham. As he left in the
\nambulance, his first thoughts were for Nicholson. “Don’t tell him until
\nthey’ve finished playing at Upton Park!” he barked. After leaving
\nTottenham, played for Derby County and won further honours for them. He
\nthen became a manager and won further honours. His last managerial
\nappointment was at Birmingham City in 1991.<\/p>\n
\nbroke bones simply because he flung himself into areas that others would
\nnot dare to venture. Cliff came from a well-known footballing family. His
\nfather, Ivor, had been a Welsh international between the wars. His
\nbrother, Bryn, plied his trade in the lower echelons of the Football
\nLeague, and an uncle, also Bryn, had played for Arsenal before WW2. Spurs
\nhad Cliff under survey for quite a long time before they signed him in
\nFebruary 1958. He broke a leg during pre-season training during the summer
\nand did not return until the turn of the year. Cliff played for Tottenham
\nfor 10 years, breaking practically every bone in his body throughout that
\ntime. The dentist was kept busy repairing his teeth after most games
\nbecause he insisted on risking being kicked in the mouth to head home a
\ngoal. In 1960-61, injury restricted his League appearances to 29 games,
\nfrom which he scored 15 goals. After leaving Spurs in October 1968, he
\nplayed for Fulham for a while and wound down his career at King’s Lynn and
\nWealdstone. He played rugby union until he was past 45. He can be seen at
\nTottenham on most match days entertaining guests in the Legends Suite.<\/p>\n
\ndid not go with him to the Crews Hill Golf Course as he believes he might
\nhave prevented White’s tragic death sheltering under a tree during a
\nthunderstorm on 21 July 1964. White was first spotted playing for Alloa
\nAthletic before transferring to Falkirk. The scouts flocked to Brockville
\nbut had their doubts about whether White could cope with First Division
\nfootball. Bill Nicholson talked to the Army and discovered he regularly
\nwon cross-country races. When Blanchflower and Mackay returned from an
\ninternational in 1959 raving about White, Nicholson did not hesitate and
\nsigned him. White took a while to settle down but his value to Tottenham
\nis best illustrated by the fact they only won one of the 15 games he
\nmissed whilst playing for Tottenham.<\/p>\n
\n1950s. He was much slimmer in those days but two years of National Service
\nadded inches to his waistline and he languished in the reserves until
\nTottenham signed him in December 1955. Smith was a battering ram of a
\nplayer. He terrified goalkeepers, particularly continental ones, with his
\nshoulder charges. Smith broke George Hunt’s goalscoring record early in
\nthe 1960-61 season and only Greaves (who else?) has scored more for
\nTottenham. Smith put on a lot of weight in his declining seasons and
\neventually fell out with manager Nicholson, who promptly sacked him less
\nthan six months after playing his final game for England. He left for
\nBrighton in May 1964 but only stayed there for a season before slipping
\ninto the non-League game. He is now a shadow of his former self and is
\nknown to be ill.<\/p>\n
\nEast End who joined Chelsea in the early 1950s as their Youth Team won
\npractically every honour available to them. Allen made only 44 League
\nappearances for Chelsea, scoring 11 goals, before Bill Nicholson swapped
\nhim for the erratic Johnny Brooks. Allen was a shy, diffident man and had
\nfrequent bouts of loss of confidence in his ability. But in 1960-61, he
\nplayed in every match, scoring 23 goals in the League and 4 in the FA Cup.
\nHe later moved to Queen’s Park Rangers before making a brief managerial
\ncareer and then quit the football world.<\/p>\n
\ntremendous amount of enthusiasm. Dyson was signed by Spurs in 1955 and had
\nmade occasional first team appearances. But the Double season was his
\nfirst full season in the team. He made 40 appearances, scoring 12 goals,
\nin the League and played in all 7 Cup games, scoring 5 goals, including
\nthe second Cup Final goal. Undoubtedly, his finest moment came in the 1963
\nEuropean Cup Winners’ Cup Final against Atletico Madrid, which Spurs won,
\n5-1. Dyson later played for Fulham and Colchester after leaving Spurs in
\n1965 before becoming involved as a coach for different non-League teams.<\/p>\n
\nBill Brown. He spent most of his career at Tottenham in the Reserves or
\nthe ‘A’ Team. His best season was during 1958-59 when Ditchburn and
\nReynolds both broke fingers and missed the whole of the season.
\nHollowbread played in the last 40 matches of that season and was not
\nblamed for the relegation struggles. Like Peter Baker, he was spotted
\nplaying for Enfield. His role after 1959 was purely as a reserve
\ngoalkeeper, destined to play only when the first choice was injured. He
\nleft for Southampton in the summer of 1964 as Spurs signed Pat Jennings
\nbut injury curtailed his career.<\/p>\n
\nforms in May 1955 and professional forms in October 1956. Barton never
\nstood a chance because Baker was too consistent and Barton only played
\nwhen Baker was injured. He left Spurs in September 1964 for Millwall but
\nnever played for them and made the further move to Luton in December 1964
\nbut retired soon after. He died on 6th September 1982, only 45.<\/p>\n
\nreserves whilst still only 15. He made his League debut in April 1950 as a
\n17 year old and when Ronnie Burgess left for Swansea in 1954 he became his
\nreplacement. In 1957, Marchi left for Lanerossi Vicenza and made the
\nfurther move to Torino before he returned to Tottenham in 1959. However,
\nby then, Spurs had signed Mackay which condemned Marchi to the position of
\n13th man in a squad or life in the reserves. It was only when Blanchflower
\nand Mackay were both injured during the 1962-63 season that Marchi began
\nto play again for the first team. When Mackay broke a leg during the
\n1963-64 season, Marchi became captain again for a while before Ron Henry
\ntook over the role. He left Tottenham in 1965 to be manager of Cambridge
\nCity in the Southern League and was briefly manager of Northampton.<\/p>\n
\nto Tottenham in April 1956. He would have been an automatic choice for
\nmost clubs but Nicholson felt he lacked the devil that made good players
\ngreat. So once Dyson became the first choice left winger with a role to
\nharry the opposition’s defenders, Medwin had to be content with the odd
\ngame or two. His career ended on a club tour of South Africa during the
\nsummer of 1963 when he sustained a broken leg. He then worked with
\ndifferent clubs in non-League and Football League circles before
\nill-health forced his premature retirement in 1983.<\/p>\n
\nBlanchflower in 1959. Smith looked a promising prospect as he had kept the
\nyoung Bobby Moore in the reserves at West Ham. But Smith only made 21
\nappearance during his 4-year spell at Tottenham and had left the club
\nbefore Blanchflower retired as a player. He played for a number of other
\nclubs but undoubtedly the highlight of his career was playing for Swindon
\nTown when they beat Arsenal at Wembley in the 1969 League Cup Final.<\/p>\n
\nwas still only 17 when he made his debut for the first team at Highbury in
\nSeptember 1960. Great things were expected of Saul but somewhere along the
\nline he lost confidence and became an ordinary player. His main claim to
\nfame at Tottenham was in scoring vital goals during the 1967 FA Cup run.
\nHe was the makeweight in the deal that bought Martin Chivers to Tottenham
\nin January 1968. He wound down his career with QPR and Millwall.<\/p>\n